Shrub · Caprifoliaceae
Honeyberry
Lonicera caerulea
Grow two cultivars side by side and you'll be picking the earliest berry of the year, sweet-tart and frost-tough.
Full sun
Every 5–7 days
USDA 2–7
4–6 ft · 1.2–1.8 m
Overview
Honeyberry, or haskap if you've heard it called that, is the edible-fruited honeysuckle, and its long blue berries are usually the first fruit you'll pick all year. It's part of the honeysuckle family and grows wild along riverbanks and damp northern ground, so it's always going to want steady moisture instead of a dry corner. Ever wondered what it tastes like? Somewhere between a blueberry and a raspberry, and it's great fresh or tossed in the freezer for later.
The best thing about this shrub is honestly how tough it is. The wood shrugs off cold down to -45°C (-49°F), and the early flowers take frost to about 19°F, so a late cold snap almost never costs you the crop. And it's easygoing about soil, happy in anything from acidic ground up to chalky, limey beds, which is a nice change from the picky blueberry.
The one thing it really asks for is a buddy. A single bush flowers its heart out and then sets barely any fruit, because honeyberry can't pollinate itself. Plant two unrelated cultivars that bloom together, let the bees do their thing, and you'll end up with heavy clusters of berries by late spring.
Care
The short version: give it full sun and steady moisture, plant a second compatible cultivar close by so it can pollinate, and net the bushes against birds once those early berries start to color up.
Light
Honeyberry fruits best in full sun, though it's happy enough with partial sun or a bit of light shade. Where summers get hot, a little afternoon shade actually does it a favor, since it isn't built for that kind of heat.
Water
This one's no fan of drought. Coming from riverbanks and damp ground, it wants a deep soak every 5 to 7 days, and more when there's a heat wave. Drip irrigation keeps things nice and even without soaking the leaves.
Soil
Plant it in moist, well-drained loam. Honeyberry is really adaptable and copes with a pH from 5.0 to 8.0, even chalky, calcareous soils that most berries flat-out refuse, so you hardly ever need to fix up the ground for it.
Temperature
Not many fruit shrubs are this hardy. The wood survives from -45°C to 30°C (-49°F to 86°F), and the spring flowers take frost down to about 19°F, but steady summer heat past zone 6 does start to wear on it.
Humidity
Regular outdoor humidity in the 40% to 70% range suits it just fine. Airflow matters way more than any exact number, because crowded, still air is exactly what brings on powdery mildew late in the season.
Feeding
Feed it once in early spring with a balanced granular like 16-16-16, about a half cup per plant. Skip the late-season nitrogen, though, since it pushes soft growth that won't harden off before winter.
Pruning
Leave a young bush mostly alone for its first 3 to 4 years and just cut out dead or damaged wood. From about year 6 on, thin up to 25 percent of the oldest branches each winter while it's dormant to keep the canopy open and cropping well.
Repotting
It's an in-ground shrub, not a pot plant, so repotting barely comes up. If you did start one in a container, move it to its forever spot once the roots start circling or water runs straight through.
Size & spacing
A grown bush hits about 4 to 6 feet (120 to 180 cm) tall and roughly the same across. Give it that same spread when you space it out so air moves freely and a pollinator partner sits close enough for the bees.
When to plant
Honeyberry works on an early schedule. Get new plants in the ground in early spring or early fall, keep an eye out for cream-yellow flowers as soon as it warms up, and pick the ripe blue berries from late May into mid June, often before the strawberries have even shown up.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Plant: Early spring or early fall
- Harvest: Blooms very early spring with cream-yellow flowers that tolerate frost to about 19°F; berries ripen late May to mid June, often just before strawberries
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 2–7
Temperature: down to -46°C
Troubleshooting
Most of the time, honeyberry trouble boils down to a missing pollinator partner, hungry birds, or summer heat somewhere too warm for it. Match what you're seeing to the symptoms below and the fix is usually pretty simple. Catch it early and you'll save the season's crop.
Tons of flowers but barely any berries
Here's the deal: honeyberry can't pollinate itself, so one bush on its own will flower like crazy and then hand you almost nothing. What fixes it? A second, unrelated cultivar that blooms at the same time, like Tundra next to Aurora or Honey Bee, planted within about 6 feet so the bees can hop back and forth. Popping a few early flowers nearby helps too, since it pulls the pollinators in while it's still chilly out.
Fix:
- Plant at least two unrelated cultivars that bloom together (for example Tundra with Aurora or Honey Bee)
- Site them within about 6 ft of each other to aid bee transfer
- Encourage early-spring bees with companion flowers
Chalky white film on the leaves late on
That white stuff is powdery mildew, and it usually shows up after you've picked, when the air's warm and sitting still. Good news is it hardly ever touches your fruit, though it can leave a bush bare sooner than you'd want. Just pull off the worst leaves, spread things out for better airflow, and plant a tough cultivar like Tundra.
Fix:
- Remove and dispose of badly affected foliage
- Improve spacing and airflow
- Choose mildew-resistant cultivars such as Tundra
Scorched leaves and early drop in hot spots
Honeyberry's really a cold-weather plant, so heat stress can trip it up once you get past zone 6, and the Russian-type cultivars feel it worst. You'll see the leaves brown at the edges and drop early. Give it afternoon shade with steady moisture, and go for the Japanese or Kamchatka types, since they cope with warmth a whole lot better.
Fix:
- Provide afternoon shade and steady soil moisture
- Use Japanese or Kamchatka-type cultivars better suited to warmth
Berries gone the moment they ripen
Birds get to honeyberry before pretty much anything else in the garden, and that's because it colors up so early. So what stops them? Throw some bird netting over the bushes before the berries turn blue, and keep it there through late May and June until you've picked the lot.
Fix:
- Drape bird netting over plants before fruit ripens
- Net in late May through June
Toxicity
Good news on this front: every part of the honeyberry is safe. The ripe blue fruit is grown as a food crop and eaten by people, and the leaves hold nothing that'll hurt pets, livestock, or wildlife. The only thing to watch? Don't mix it up with the ornamental honeysuckles, whose red berries aren't for eating.
Safe for
People · Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Cats None
Cats are fine here. A little taste of a leaf or a berry won't poison them, though scarfing a load of any plant might make a cat a bit queasy for a while.
Dogs None
Dogs have nothing to worry about. Those blue berries? Same fruit people eat, and the leaves don't hold anything nasty either.
Horses Safe
Horses can hang out next to a honeyberry bush no problem, because neither the berries nor the leaves have any toxin in them.
Rabbits Safe
Rabbits are totally okay around it. They might nibble the leaves, and a couple of ripe berries make a harmless little snack.
Livestock Safe
Cattle, goats, and sheep can browse it without any trouble, since there's just no poison in the plant to fret over.
Birds Safe
Birds go wild for the early fruit and it doesn't hurt them one bit. Honestly, the tricky part is keeping a few berries back for yourself.
People Safe
The ripe blue berries are grown as a food crop and eaten fresh, frozen, or turned into preserves. They're good to eat, plain and simple.
No special handling required; ripe berries are edible and safe to pick by hand.
Varieties
Most honeyberry cultivars trace back to breeding programs in Russia, Japan, and Canada, and you'll want at least two that bloom together. Here are the ones worth knowing about.
Tundra
Its firm fruit stands up to machine harvest, and it laughs off powdery mildew better than most of the others.
Borealis
It gives you big berries with a sweet-tart flavor that's counted among the best for eating right off the bush.
Indigo Gem
It's a big cropper of small, tangy berries that really come alive in jams, juice, and other processing.
Aurora
This vigorous University of Saskatchewan cultivar has large fruit and such a long bloom that it doubles as a solid pollinizer for the Boreal and Honey Bee group.
Honey Bee
It's a University of Saskatchewan pollinizer with tart fruit and a stretched-out bloom that lines up nicely with its partners.
Companions
Honeyberry's best neighbors are the ones that help it set fruit: a second compatible cultivar to cross-pollinate, and early flowers that pull bees in while the bloom is still cold.
Plant near
A second unrelated haskap cultivar: Required cross-pollinizer that must bloom at the same time for good fruit set
Early-spring flowering plants such as crocus: Draw bumblebees and bees during haskap's very early bloom, improving pollination
How to propagate
You can make more honeyberry from cuttings or from seed, but only one of them gives you a true copy of the plant you started with. Guess which?
Stem cuttingsModerate
Softwood cuttings in early summer or hardwood cuttings taken during dormancy · About 4 to 8 weeks to root; transplant out the following season
Want an exact copy of a cultivar? Cuttings are the way. Take softwood in early summer or hardwood while the plant's dormant, dip the ends in rooting hormone to nudge your chances up, and you'll usually see roots in about 4 to 8 weeks. Grow them on and plant them out the following season.
SeedModerate
Sow after cold stratification in spring · Several years to first fruiting
Seed is really more of a breeder's thing than a way to copy a bush you love. You cold-stratify it and sow in spring, but the seedlings come out all over the place, won't match the parent, and take several years before they fruit.
Myths
Every honeysuckle berry is poisonous, so honeyberries can't be safe to eat.
Sure, plenty of ornamental honeysuckles, like L. tatarica and L. maackii, do carry mildly toxic, inedible berries, and that's where the worry comes from. But honeyberry is L. caerulea, the one that's grown on purpose as a food crop. Its ripe blue fruit is non-toxic and eaten fresh, frozen, and in preserves.
Honeyberries want acidic soil, just like blueberries.
That's a blueberry thing, not a haskap thing. Honeyberry handles a wide pH range and even does great on chalky, calcareous ground up around 7.7 or higher, which makes it one of the easiest-going berries you can grow.
One honeyberry plant will give you a full crop all by itself.
Nope, honeyberry can't fertilize its own flowers. It needs a second, unrelated cultivar blooming at the same time close by to cross-pollinate, or all you'll get is loads of blossom and barely any fruit.